Romania’s central bank cut its main interest rate by half a percentage point to 8% from 8.5%, after a similar decision the day before by the National Bank of Hungary.

The rate cut leaves Romania’s benchmark interest rates at the highest level in the 27-member European Union.

Read more here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125426716330750955.html

Info

Rasnov Citadel (Rosenau in German), is located on a rocky hilltop in the Carpathian mountains, 200m above the town of Rasnov in Romania. It is 15 km southwest of Brasov and also about 15 km from Bran Castle. The fortress is on the Bran Pass, a trade route connecting Wallachia with Transylvania. The view from the top of the castle hill is spectacular.

The first written record for the fortress is from 1331, and when the Tartars invaded in 1335, Rasnov Citadel was already strong enough to offer resistance. The castle has an upper and lower section, with polygonal perimeter walls reaching an average height of 5m. The east side is the most heavily fortified, and the walls on both that side as well as the northwest side are doubled. The defenses include 9 towers, 2 bastions, and a drawbridge. As Turkey and Austria battled over Transylvania, arms were stockpiled in the defense corridors at the walls.

The last siege of Rasnov Citadel took place in 1690 during the last Turkish invasion of Transylvania. It was damaged by fire in 1718 and rebuilt the following year. The next major damage occurred as the result of an earthquake in 1802. The fortress was last used as a place of refuge during the revolution of 1848, and was abandoned after that. Reconstruction is currently being undertaken at the fortress.

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The only Romanian ski centre at over 1000 metres, Predeal’s first wooden house was erected in 1830 near a convent on the border crossing between Muntenia and Transylvania. Easy intermediate skiing today, the longest trail the 2.5km Clabucet.

Predeal Ski Facts

Interesting Facts

• The Danube River is the most international river on the planet – its course runs across — or forms a part of the borders of  several countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and four capitals: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade.
• Formed over a period of more than 10,000 years, the Danube Delta continues to grow due to the 67 million tons of alluvia deposited every year by the Danube River.
• The Delta is formed around the three main channels of the Danube, named after their respective ports: Chilia (in the north), Sulina (in the middle), and Sfantu Gheorghe (in the south).
• The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve has the third largest biodiversity in the world (over 5,500 flora and fauna species), exceeded only by the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Galapagos Archipelago in Ecuador.
• The Danube Delta is home to over 60% of the world’s population of pygmy cormorants (phalacrocorax pygmeus), 50% of red-breasted geese (branta ruficollis) and the largest number of white pelicans (pelecanus onocrotalus) and Dalmatian pelicans (pelecanus crispus) in Europe.
• It also is home to the world’s largest reed bed expanse – 625, 000 acres / 240,000 ha.
• Some 15,000 people inhabit the Delta area, living in 28 villages and one city (Sulina).
• The area was first attested by Herodot of Halicarnas (484 – 425 B.C.).
• More then half of the Delta Biosphere Reserve is virtually intact.

Info

Bran Castle National Museum: General Traian Mosoiu str., no. 28, Bran, postal code 507025, Braşov county, Romania

Phone: +40 268 238 332          +40 268 238 334

Fax: +40 268 238 335

E-mail: info@brancastlemuseum.ro

Visiting hours:

Monday: 12:00-19:00

Tuesday – Sunday: 9:00-19:00

Last entrance: 18:00

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Info

Address: Muzeul National Peles, Str. Pelesului, Nr. 2, 106100 Sinaia, Jud. Prahova.

Phone: 0040-244-310.918, Phone/Fax: 0040-244-312.416

Email: museum@peles.ro

Web: www.peles.ro

Opening hours at Peles Castle:
Summer (15 May – 15 September)
Monday closed, Tuesday 11.00 – 17.00, Wednesday – Sunday 09.00 – 17.00
Winter (16 September – 14 May)
Monday, Tuesday – closed, Wednesday 11.00 – 17.00, Thursday – Sunday 09.00 – 17.00

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Great site with lots of interesting articles in English and Romanian: Captivating Romania

A few falsities and poorly pronounced words but overall an interesting video:

In Romania, Christmas is known as Craciun and Santa Claus is called Moș Craciun

Christmas in Romania has retained all its religious and folk traditions. Red, black and white are the colors associated with the traditional Romanian folk costume. Black represents the winter night, which falls very early in December, red is for the finery of the children who go caroling through the streets on Christmas eve, and white is for the snow that blankets the country, sparkling under the stars for as far as the eye can see.

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